macosxhints.com phones tipshttp://hints.macworld.com/index.php?topic=hwphone
Tips and tricks for working with phones and OS X, from macosxhints.comwebteam@macosxhints.comwebteam@macosxhints.comCopyright 2014 Mac OS X HintsGeeklogWed, 11 Jun 2014 07:00:02 -0700en-gbiOS: Maps wrong destination Work-aroundhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20140520082136134
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20140520082136134Wed, 11 Jun 2014 07:00:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20140520082136134#commentsPhonesIt just so happens that the building where I work has no street address, as it is part of a university campus. When I asked Siri where I was, it gave me an address, which I put as my work address in my contact card. However, whenever I asked Siri to give me directions to work, it would lead me astray - about a mile down the road. Yet when I double-checked by asking Siri where I was, it aid I was at the address previously reported. I also discovered that if I manually touch the address in my contact card and touch <i>Directions to here</i> I would get directed to the correct spot! I played around with Siri today and figured out a work-around so that I could ask Siri for directions to work and get there properly.
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I believe this is all due to some sort of Apple Maps bug. Manually touching to get directions versus asking Siri for directions to the same address should give you directions to the same place. I suspected that Siri was using different address mappings than Maps was ...Touch camera icon in lock screen to turn off flashlighthttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20131209212553508
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20131209212553508Thu, 19 Dec 2013 07:10:00 -0800http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20131209212553508#commentsPhonesIn iOS 7, suppose you trigger the flashlight via Notification Center.<br />
<br />
After using the flashlight, you don't have to swipe up the Control Center and tap the flashlight icon again to turn it off—no, no. There's a simpler way.<br />
<br />
Trigger the lock screen, and then simply touch the camera icon in the bottom right corner: The flashlight goes off. <br />
Make your iPhone truly silent in silent modehttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130904084520257
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130904084520257Wed, 04 Sep 2013 08:45:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130904084520257#commentsPhonesWhen you flip the ring/silent switch on your iPhone, it goes quiet while it's locked/asleep—mostly. But unless Do Not Disturb is turned on, your iPhone will still buzz the hum of its internal vibration motor when alerts that would otherwise ring out arrive.<br />
<br />
But there's a fix. You can make your silenced iPhone be truly silent with a single flick of a virtual switch. Head over to Settings, and tap on Sounds. Switch Vibrate on Silent to off, and your phone will be both sound and vibration free when you slide the ring/silent switch to the quieter position.<br />
More easily ignore unwanted calls to your iPhonehttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130625091250495
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130625091250495Thu, 27 Jun 2013 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130625091250495#commentsPhonesYou can identify unwanted calls. I still have a land line, but I am forwarding all calls to my iPhone. To identify unwanted calls (new windows, green energy, political adds...), I created a Contact named Don't Answer.
<br><br>When I answer the phone and it is one of those annoying calls, if the number shows up, I can just use the 'add to existing contact' feature. Of course, this doesn't work if the number is blocked. But, in two weeks, I have a long list of calls that show up as Don't Answer and I can just not answer or choose Decline—there's no guesswork involved.<br><br>
<strong>Lex adds:</strong> I do something similar for another reason. I use Google's two-factor authentication, and Google uses a variety of phone numbers to text me my passcode when I log in. So I created a Google entry in my contacts, and add each different number the company texts me from to that contact. That way, instead of ending up with lots of old entries from Google in Messages, there's just one that ...Use Dropbox and Automator to automatically import photos from Androidhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130419063133668
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130419063133668Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20130419063133668#commentsPhonesI have an Android phone and wanted to automatically save photos that I take in iPhoto, similar to the Photo Stream feature that iPhones have. Dropbox has a feature that automatically uploads photos that you take into a folder called "Camera Uploads,” which is synced across all of my devices, so was a perfect candidate for creating a cross-platform Photo Stream.
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First, I needed to import the existing "Camera Uploads" photos into iPhoto, as the folder action only triggers when a new file appears in the folder. Once this has been done, the folder action can be created.
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Open Automator and create a new Folder Action. Select the folder "Camera Uploads" (in the Dropbox folder).
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Next, drag "Import files into iPhoto" from the list of actions to the main window. Select the album to import into, and choose whether to delete the photos after import or not (I chose not to).
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Save and give the folder action a name.
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Quit Automator and iPhoto.
<br> ...Sync OS X Lion Address Book with Nokia device http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120527223436266
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120527223436266Wed, 30 May 2012 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120527223436266#commentsPhonesUntil 10.6, all Nokia devices were directly supported by iSync. iSync still runs under 10.7, but has to be installed manually from a backup because it's no longer supported (you'll have to find a 10.6 installation to get a copy).
<br><br>
However, the introduction of iCloud finally broke iSync, too. You will not be able to sync a Nokia phone with iSync if you have iCloud activated.
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The solution is:
<ol>
<li>Create a new user (called for example NokiaSync)</li>
<li>Select all Address Book entries. Drag the list of entries to your desktop. This creates a .vcf file.</li>
<li>Copy this file to the Desktop of your new user NokiaSync (via the NokiaSync user's Public folder, or some other means).</li>
<li>Drag the .vcf file into this user's Address Book.</li>
<li>Launch iSync for user NokiaSync and sync NokiaSync's address book with your Nokia phone.</li>
</ol>
The key is that while every other user on your computer can use iCloud, the new user NokiaSync will not use iClou ...Mac Address Book synchronization with Android device - iCloud problemhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120125120114487
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120125120114487Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:30:00 -0800http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20120125120114487#commentsPhonesI wanted to sync my Address Book on my MacBook Pro running Mac OS X to an Android device. The problem is that I use iCloud for syncing between my Mac and my iDevices (iPhone, iPad) via the iCloud service.
<br><br>
I found a solution for syncing between Mac OS X and Android with some tweaking. Download <a href="http://mac.eltima.com/sync-mac.html">SyncMate</a> and install it on the Mac. The free version handles Address Books. Then download SyncMate from Android Market on your Android device and install it.
<ul>
<li>Start the SyncMate.app on your Mac and select 'Add Connection.'</li>
<li>Select 'Android Device.'</li>
<li>Select Wifi, assuming you use Wifi on the Android device.</li>
<li>Enter the IP address of the Android device.</li>
<li>Start the sync.</li>
<li>Open Address Book on the Mac.</li>
<li>Select Groups under the View menu.</li>
<li>Click on 'All iCloud' and then select all the addresses you want to copy to the Android device.</li>
<li>Drag the addresses ...</li></ul>10.6: Add iSync support for Nokia 9300 in Snow Leoopardhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090917175224872
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090917175224872Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:30:01 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090917175224872#commentsPhonesThe following hint was submitted a while ago in the comments section of <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060701092537685">another hint about the 9300</a>. In 10.6, I couldn't get the original hint to work, but the method from <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/comment.php?mode=view&amp;cid=83077">this comment</a> worked fine. For others struggling with this in 10.6, here's the method from that comment:
<blockquote>Control-click on iSync.app (version 2.3) and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into Contents &raquo; PlugIns &raquo; ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice &raquo; Contents &raquo; PlugIns. Duplicate the folder <em>Nokia-9300i.phoneplugin</em>, and rename it as <em>Nokia-9300.phoneplugin</em>.
<br><br>
Open the new folder <em>Nokia-9300.phoneplugin</em>, then open the Contents folder within it. Open file <em>info.plist</em> with TextEdit, find ALL <em>9300i</em> references and replace them with <em>9300</em>, then save. Next, ...</blockquote>Add mobile carrier and SMS email to Address Book entrieshttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2009070922403951
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2009070922403951Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2009070922403951#commentsPhonesSince the AT&amp;T rates are so high for data, I have the smallest/cheapest plan available for texts and minutes, so I often get close to my limit at the end of the month. I therefore like to send my SMSs via the unlimited data email (<tt>###@vtext.com</tt>), and only make/answer calls to those that are in network when I'm running out of minutes.
<br><br>
Instead of going through each Address Book entry and adding emails to them manually after looking up their carrier through a service (such as <a href="http://www.whitepages.com/carrier_lookup?carrier=att&amp;name_0=&amp;number_0=212-987-6543&amp;response=1">this one</a> at whitepages.com), I adopted ViViDBoarder's <a href="http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=633361">excellent script to add the SMS emails</a>, updating the code to work better with the current version of whitepages.com, and adding a little suffix representing the carrier to the mobile phone label so it says <em>mobile att</em>.
<br><br>
I wanted something I ...Migrate contacts from Verizon phone to iPhonehttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090703105721542
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090703105721542Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090703105721542#commentsPhonesHere's one way to move contact from a Verizon phone to an iPhone. First back up your Verizon contacts using Backup Assistant (a small app you download using GetItNow). After running the app to back up, log onto your Verizon account, click the My Services tab, then click the My Contacts link.
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This will show you all your contacts. Click the Print Address Book. This exports them into a single window ready for printing. But rather than print (or after printing as a backup), choose Save As and save the file as text. Open this in a text editor (it wouldn't open in Pages, so I opened first in TextEdit, then copied and pasted).
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From there, you can do some replacing and deleting until you have a tab-delimited list which, voila, can be imported into Address Book and synced with your iPhone.
Create Nokia N85 iSync plug-inhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20081120073136339
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20081120073136339Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:30:01 -0800http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20081120073136339#commentsPhonesI really had to add contacts to my new great Nokia N85 phone, so I hacked a way to do it. It's actually very simple; just replace <tt>N96</tt> with <tt>N85</tt> everywhere within the N96 plug-in.
<br><br>
Start by <a href="http://europe.nokia.com/A4299040">downloading the plug-in</a> for the N96, and install it on your Mac. Open the folder /Library/PhonePlugins (Command-Shift-G in a Finder window, then type/paste the above path). Copy (you may drag it with the Option key pressed) the Nokia_N96_1v2.phoneplugin folder to the Desktop (or where you want; just out of PhonePlugins). Rename the new copy on the Desktop to <tt>Nokia_N85_1v2.phoneplugin</tt>. Open this folder, then open Contents &raquo; Resources within it.
<br><br>
Open all files at every level, except the <tt>NokiaN96.tiff</tt> image file, with a plain text editor (drag them inside the application icon). I used an old BBedit Light, but you may use any editor (TextWrangler and Smultron are free; I'm not sure if you may ...10.5: Fix connect/disconnect Bluetooth modem issuehttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080911045249289
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080911045249289Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080911045249289#commentsPhones<img src="http://www.macosxhints.com/images/105only.png" align="left" style="margin-right: 10px">By default, OS X 10.5.4 lets you set up a mobile phone to act as a Bluetooth modem, but this does not always work. For instance, it doesn't work with a Nokia E61 on the O2 network in the UK.
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When you try Connect Bluetooth from the menu bar, you will see Connecting..., immediately followed by Disconnecting ..., and then finally an error saying that it "Could not negotiate a connection with the remote PPP server." This error persists even after taking care to enter the correct username, password, APN, CID, and to change the necessary settings on the phone. Googling on this will also produce a lot advice to install custom modem scripts. This is often misleading, since these scripts were mostly designed to fill gaps in OS X 10.4.*.
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In fact, the "connecting/disconnecting" problem is because Leopard, by default, requires a new kind of PPP authorization (MS-CHAP[v2]) which no ...10.5: Create any mobile phone plug-in for iSynchttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080724202106934
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080724202106934Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:30:03 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080724202106934#commentsPhones<img src="http://www.macosxhints.com/images/105only.png" align="left" style="margin-right: 10px">If you are slightly tech-savvy, Apple has introduced (on the Xcode Developer DVD that ships with Leopard) an application to help you create your own mobile phone plug-ins. If you have not already installed the Developer Tools, do so. If you have, go to /Developer &raquo; Applications &raquo; Utilities in the Finder.
<br><br>
The application you are looking for is named iSync Plug-in Maker, which is essentially a graphical wizard that assists you in rapidly putting together and then testing your own plug-in for any mobile phone device. After testing, the program helps you create a distribution/installation package.
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A lot of people are using the tool and then making money selling their own plug-ins -- but now you know where to find the same tools, so you can do this on your own. Apple even has ...Sync larger To Do notes on Nokia N95http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080322161647930
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080322161647930Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:30:01 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080322161647930#commentsPhonesI really like my new Nokia N95, and with Nokia's driver for iSync, things have been working wonderfully. However, I found out that the notes associated to a ToDo task (notes = description in N95) were limited to 500 characters. Since I use some notes bigger than that, I proceeded as follows:
<ol>
<li>Open /Library &raquo; PhonePlugins &raquo; Nokia-N95.phoneplugin &raquo; Contents &raquo; Resources &raquo; PhoneConduit.plist in your favorite text editor. (I suggest using a text editor rather than Property List Editor.)</li>
<li>Change the <tt>maxLentgh</tt> parameter for the <tt>description</tt> attribute, in the <tt>com.apple.calendars.Task</tt> key from 500 to, say, 10000.</li>
<li>Save the file and restart iSync.</li>
</ol>
Next time you sync, your notes of up to 10000 characters will be there in you N95. I guess this hint can be extended to others mobile phones and PDAs, but then "caveat emptor."
Add iSync support for Sony Ericsson k770ihttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071201062027515
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071201062027515Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:30:01 -0800http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071201062027515#commentsPhonesAs per usual, phone support for new phones can be added to iSync by tweaking the information in PhonePlugins. This was done on OSX 10.4.11 (iSync 2.4) as follows. Copy the SonyEricsson-K790.phoneplugin (which you'll find in Applications &raquo; iSync.app &raquo; Control-click and Show Package Contents &raquo; Contents &raquo; PlugIns &raquo; ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice &raquo; Contents &raquo; PlugIns) to ~/Library/PhonePlugins/ (create directory if it's not there).
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Rename the file to K770.phoneplugin, and edit the plist files within to be for the 770 not 790. I also got the VendorID (<tt>0x0fce</tt>) and ProductID (<tt>0xd0b7</tt>) by connecting the phone by USB and looking in System Profiler. This information was placed in the <tt>MetaClasses.plist</tt> file in the <tt>com.apple.usb.vendorif-modelid</tt> string.
<br><br>
In editing the plist files, I followed <a href="http://the.taoofmac.com/space/HOWTO/Write%20iSync%20Phone%20Plugins">these instructions</a>. I qui ... Add Sony Ericsson S500i to Address Bookhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070925163859600
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070925163859600Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070925163859600#commentsPhonesTo add support for the Sony Ericsson S500i in Address Book, do the following. In the Finder, control-click on Address Book and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Navigate into Contents &raquo; Resources, then control-click on Telephony.bundle and again choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. In the new window that opens, navigate into Contents &raquo; Resources, and then edit <em>ABDeviceCommandSets.plist</em> in your favorite pure text editor (perhaps make a backup first, just in case). Search for <em>K700</em>, and when you find it (it will look like <tt>&lt;string&gt;K700&lt;string&gt;</tt>), add this new entry below it:
<pre><code>&lt;string&gt;S500&lt;/string&gt;</code></pre>
Save the changes and quit the editor, and you'll now be able to dial and send SMS directly from Address Book. It will also enable you to pick up the phone from Address Book.
Enable USB mass storage function on P1i phonehttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070818221922585
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070818221922585Tue, 21 Aug 2007 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070818221922585#commentsPhonesI have a Sony Ericsson P1i, which doesn't appear to let you use it as a USB mass storage device under OS X 10.4.10. However, thanks to <a href="http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33836">this post</a> by okoshiyasu on the my-symbian.com website, it's now working properly. Here's a brief overview of the fix:
<blockquote>i launched the USB PROBER app, plugged my P1i, gathered the IDPRODUCT info and found out that it was different than the one in the kext (m600 id = 57392 / p1i id = 57490). i changed it using textedit, saved the file, remove the old m600 extension and replaced it with the newly modified one, restarted the computer, plugged the p1i and VOILA! the memory card appears on the desktop. </blockquote>
The linked forum thread contains a downloadable version of the modified kext.
A fix for Nokia / iSync 'unexpected error'http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070811071653893
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070811071653893Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070811071653893#commentsPhonesI just got a new Nokia Navigator 6110 phone, downloaded the Nokia iSync plug-in from the Nokia (Europe) website, and tried by both USB and Bluetooth to sync my Address Book and iCal, without success. I had no problem at all with my SE K750i. I'm running 10.4.10 on an iMac G5.
<br><br>
The synching would progress until almost the end of the 'applying changes,' then fail with an 'unexpected error.' Deleting and re-pairing the phone didn't make a difference.
<br><br>
What did work was a tip by Julian Wright posted to Apple Discussions regarding another Nokia phone model -- simply click 'Reset Sync History' in iSync prefs. I then did a 'Delete and Sync,' and it worked successfully. Hope this saves someone else hours of frustration!
Nokia phones and iTunes Plus fix revisitedhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070609012009186
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070609012009186Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:30:00 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070609012009186#commentsPhonesThis is an enhancement to <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070530080720994">this recent hint</a> to get iTunes Plus songs to play on certain AAC-supporting devices, such as Nokia/Symbian-based mobile phones including the Nokia N95. I've tested this using a Nokia E61.
<br><br>
There is only a single difference that matters to the phone between the iTunes-converted (as shown in the hint) or QuickTime Pro re-wrapped (<a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/comment.php?mode=view&amp;cid=87524">comment to the hint</a>) AAC file and the original iTunes Plus song: iTunes 7.2 (and/or the iTunes Store) moved an 'atom' (the name given to a chunk of content in the .m4a file) from being a child to a sibling (that is, up one level in the hierarchy). This causes the phone to baulk when it sees the atom at an unexpected location in the file.
<br><br>
The solution is to move the 'pinf' atom back to where QuickTime puts it (as a child of 'esds'). There is a ...Make the Sony Ericsson K510 work with Address Bookhttp://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2007061119251321
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2007061119251321Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:30:02 -0700http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2007061119251321#commentsPhonesI was able to send SMS from Address Book through my Sony Ericcsson K510A by modifying a few characters in a file within the Telephony.bundle. To find this file, Control-click on Address Book (quit it first) and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Then open Contents &raquo; Resources, and Control-click on Telephony.bundle. Again pick Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu, then navigate into Contents &raquo; Resources. There you'll see a file named ABDeviceCommandSets.plist.
<br><br>
Open this file with a text editor, and look around line 80 for this entry:
<pre><code>&lt;key&gt;ABDeviceModelStrings&lt;/key&gt;
&lt;array&gt;
&lt;string&gt;K750&lt;/string&gt;
&lt;/array&gt;</code></pre>
You must change K750 to K510, then save your changes and quit the editor and you'll be able to send SMS messeges, receive them, see Caller ID, and be able to place calls through your Mac. If someone could modify the code to get it to answer calls or hang up calls, it ...